FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS / WALK WITH AMAL
The Festival of Lights and Winter Fair is a time for PYP and MYP students to celebrate the end of the calendar year with our entire ISL Community. Students prepare lively performances, and share arts and crafts that they have created; coming together to support nominated charity organisations through items collected and funds donated.
This year’s Festival of Lights and Winter Fair have been inspired by our work this semester with Walk with Amal and celebrates the themes of 'Home' and 'Community'.
This year, we are very excited to nominate Serve the City International and Care 4 Calais as the non-profit organisations we will be supporting, in their work with refugee families.
Now in its sixth year, the Festival of Lights is one of the highlights of the ISL Calendar, during which time students demonstrate their talents and all the hard work and commitment to this cause as part of their Service Learning programme and units of study in a variety of subjects. The Design, Visual and Performing Arts Departments are working hand in hand to bring to life a truly unique whole school event and we want to thank everyone involved in making this event successful.
The past two years have been like no other and the pandemic has been shaping online’s theatre future. Arts and Theatre have offered us solace, comfort, provoked us and entertained us as we sheltered. The National Theatre At Home was one of the greatest online successes during lockdown; but if it showed us one thing, it is that the live experience is irreplaceable. We are now hopeful and thankful that we will be inviting you to join us for our live shows on the 14th, 15th and 16th December.
Take a look at our MYP e-Poetry Anthology
The anthology contains multilingual poems written by
MYP Secondary students from across the Language and
Literature Department. The anthology connects us to
the themes of ‘Walk with Amal’, deepening our
understanding of her journey. In students expressing
their emotions and perspectives on the importance
of home and community, they created this beautiful
Gift for Amal.
Amal arrives at St. Paul's Cathedral
In May 2020, the ISL community became taken by the story of Little Amal, the nine-year old Syrian refugee who would travel from Syria to Manchester over the course of four months. Her sheer size (did we mention she is a nine-foot tall puppet?) and the scope of the journey ahead of her inspired us to dream in equal measure.
Amal dancing at Kingsway Amal receiving ISL woven scarf
This semester, as Amal slowly made her way through 8 countries and we got to learn more about the world through her eyes, we asked ourselves what we could do as a community to represent the world we hope Amal walks towards. The Festival of Lights and the Winter Fair is just one of the ways we hope to celebrate our stories and to make a difference in a shared world.
Amal accepting her gifts in Manchester
Amal shakes hands with Yuki in Manchester
2019-20 Festival of Lights & Winter Fair highlights